I have a user who's been migrated to a new machine. Her old one was a Dell GX270 with about 256MB RAM and XP SP2 and Outlook 2003. The new HP has the same software, but has 2GB RAM and is a new dual-core job.

The user has 563 PSTs. I wish I were exagerrating. She literally has some of these with 1 email in them. She has all of them "opened" in outlook (By that I mean she has them loaded, but not all are expanded). And... surprise, surprise, she's getting a lot of corruption in the PSTs, giving her problems opening emails and personal folders constantly.

Here's the kicker: The original machine runs them just fine. It's old and slow, but it chugs along and doesn't seem plagued with this issue. She has all of the files open in the same manner, and works.

Intensely frustrating, let me tell you. She refuses to believe that having 563 PSTs open is a bad thing because they work on the old machine.

So, has anyone ever seen anything of this caliber? Any suggestions? The obvious one of "Close them" isn't an option at this time, and merging them down isn't either. This user claims not to have time, and keeps referring back to the old machine where her setup has worked for 3 years.

Robbzilla wrote:
I have a user who's been migrated to a new machine. Her old one was a
Dell GX270 with about 256MB RAM and XP SP2 and Outlook 2003. The new HP
has the same software, but has 2GB RAM and is a new dual-core job.

The user has 563 PSTs. I wish I were exagerrating. She literally has
some of these with 1 email in them. She has all of them "opened" in
outlook (By that I mean she has them loaded, but not all are expanded).
And... surprise, surprise, she's getting a lot of corruption in the
PSTs, giving her problems opening emails and personal folders
constantly.

Here's the kicker: The original machine runs them just fine. It's old
and slow, but it chugs along and doesn't seem plagued with this issue.
She has all of the files open in the same manner, and works.

Intensely frustrating, let me tell you. She refuses to believe that
having 563 PSTs open is a bad thing because they work on the old
machine.

So, has anyone ever seen anything of this caliber? Any suggestions? The
obvious one of "Close them" isn't an option at this time, and merging
them down isn't either. This user claims not to have time, and keeps
referring back to the old machine where her setup has worked for 3
years.





How, exactly, did you open the .PST files on the new computer?

Alias

Assuming the data was migrated correctly then it should function as before.
Is there any Antivirus software intergrated with Outllook, or any other new
addins

Not withstanding this a pst, a not a replacement for user created folders
and as such the user should be instructed, after all how much time can it
take to work though 6 at a time. As it is a receipe for data loss, and then
the user will have considerable downtime, whilst the data is being rebuilt

"Robbzilla" wrote in message
...

I have a user who's been migrated to a new machine. Her old one was a
Dell GX270 with about 256MB RAM and XP SP2 and Outlook 2003. The new HP
has the same software, but has 2GB RAM and is a new dual-core job.

The user has 563 PSTs. I wish I were exagerrating. She literally has
some of these with 1 email in them. She has all of them "opened" in
outlook (By that I mean she has them loaded, but not all are expanded).
And... surprise, surprise, she's getting a lot of corruption in the
PSTs, giving her problems opening emails and personal folders
constantly.

Here's the kicker: The original machine runs them just fine. It's old
and slow, but it chugs along and doesn't seem plagued with this issue.
She has all of the files open in the same manner, and works.

Intensely frustrating, let me tell you. She refuses to believe that
having 563 PSTs open is a bad thing because they work on the old
machine.

So, has anyone ever seen anything of this caliber? Any suggestions? The
obvious one of "Close them" isn't an option at this time, and merging
them down isn't either. This user claims not to have time, and keeps
referring back to the old machine where her setup has worked for 3
years.




--
Robbzilla

What version of outlook is on the new machine? If 2003, do you have all the
latest patches and updates installed? I believe there was a hotfix for
profiles with more than 50 pst's in them (but I can't find the KB at the
moment).

You really need to get her to reduce the number of psts - its not a very
productive way to work. If you have an exchange server she should not be
using any psts.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Need Help with Common Tasks? http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/
Outlook 2007: http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/ol2007/

Outlook Tips by email:


Exchange Messaging Outlook newsletter:


Outlook Tips: http://www.outlook-tips.net/
Outlook & Exchange Solutions Center: http://www.slipstick.com

You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/comm...s/default.mspx or point your
newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.


"Robbzilla" wrote in message
...

I have a user who's been migrated to a new machine. Her old one was a
Dell GX270 with about 256MB RAM and XP SP2 and Outlook 2003. The new HP
has the same software, but has 2GB RAM and is a new dual-core job.

The user has 563 PSTs. I wish I were exagerrating. She literally has
some of these with 1 email in them. She has all of them "opened" in
outlook (By that I mean she has them loaded, but not all are expanded).
And... surprise, surprise, she's getting a lot of corruption in the
PSTs, giving her problems opening emails and personal folders
constantly.

Here's the kicker: The original machine runs them just fine. It's old
and slow, but it chugs along and doesn't seem plagued with this issue.
She has all of the files open in the same manner, and works.

Intensely frustrating, let me tell you. She refuses to believe that
having 563 PSTs open is a bad thing because they work on the old
machine.

So, has anyone ever seen anything of this caliber? Any suggestions? The
obvious one of "Close them" isn't an option at this time, and merging
them down isn't either. This user claims not to have time, and keeps
referring back to the old machine where her setup has worked for 3
years.




--
Robbzilla

Robbzilla wrote:
I have a user who's been migrated to a new machine. Her old one was a
Dell GX270 with about 256MB RAM and XP SP2 and Outlook 2003. The new
HP has the same software, but has 2GB RAM and is a new dual-core job.

The user has 563 PSTs. I wish I were exagerrating. She literally has
some of these with 1 email in them. She has all of them "opened" in
outlook (By that I mean she has them loaded, but not all are
expanded). And... surprise, surprise, she's getting a lot of
corruption in the PSTs, giving her problems opening emails and
personal folders constantly.

Here's the kicker: The original machine runs them just fine. It's old
and slow, but it chugs along and doesn't seem plagued with this issue.
She has all of the files open in the same manner, and works.

Intensely frustrating, let me tell you. She refuses to believe that
having 563 PSTs open is a bad thing because they work on the old
machine.

So, has anyone ever seen anything of this caliber? Any suggestions?
The obvious one of "Close them" isn't an option at this time, and
merging them down isn't either. This user claims not to have time,
and keeps referring back to the old machine where her setup has
worked for 3 years.

Honestly, that's beyond insane. Is this a paying customer? If they doesn't
have Exchange, get them a hosted Exchange service. I wouldn't touch this
mess with a ten-foot pole, let alone support it.

In message "Lanwench [MVP -
Exchange]" hoo.com
was claimed to have wrote:

Robbzilla wrote:
I have a user who's been migrated to a new machine. Her old one was a
Dell GX270 with about 256MB RAM and XP SP2 and Outlook 2003. The new
HP has the same software, but has 2GB RAM and is a new dual-core job.

The user has 563 PSTs. I wish I were exagerrating. She literally has
some of these with 1 email in them. She has all of them "opened" in
outlook (By that I mean she has them loaded, but not all are
expanded). And... surprise, surprise, she's getting a lot of
corruption in the PSTs, giving her problems opening emails and
personal folders constantly.

Here's the kicker: The original machine runs them just fine. It's old
and slow, but it chugs along and doesn't seem plagued with this issue.
She has all of the files open in the same manner, and works.

Intensely frustrating, let me tell you. She refuses to believe that
having 563 PSTs open is a bad thing because they work on the old
machine.

So, has anyone ever seen anything of this caliber? Any suggestions?
The obvious one of "Close them" isn't an option at this time, and
merging them down isn't either. This user claims not to have time,
and keeps referring back to the old machine where her setup has
worked for 3 years.

Honestly, that's beyond insane. Is this a paying customer? If they doesn't
have Exchange, get them a hosted Exchange service. I wouldn't touch this
mess with a ten-foot pole, let alone support it.

While it certainly sounds like a mess, how would moving to Exchange
help? Most of the "I lost my PST" horror stories I've had the pleasure
to consult at have Exchange servers and most of those are configured
such that it all but forces users to still use PSTs.

Using 563 PSTs is just poor management, sure, but switching the primary
store to Exchange won't help that.

BTW - there are stored on the local machine, not on the network or in a
roaming profile? If they are networked, it can cause corruption. Are you
using an image so the computers are 100% identical, down to the patches?

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Outlook Tips: http://www.outlook-tips.net/
Outlook & Exchange Solutions Center: http://www.slipstick.com

Outlook Tips by email:


EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:


You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/comm...s/default.mspx or point your
newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.


"Robbzilla" wrote in message
...

I have a user who's been migrated to a new machine. Her old one was a
Dell GX270 with about 256MB RAM and XP SP2 and Outlook 2003. The new HP
has the same software, but has 2GB RAM and is a new dual-core job.

The user has 563 PSTs. I wish I were exagerrating. She literally has
some of these with 1 email in them. She has all of them "opened" in
outlook (By that I mean she has them loaded, but not all are expanded).
And... surprise, surprise, she's getting a lot of corruption in the
PSTs, giving her problems opening emails and personal folders
constantly.

Here's the kicker: The original machine runs them just fine. It's old
and slow, but it chugs along and doesn't seem plagued with this issue.
She has all of the files open in the same manner, and works.

Intensely frustrating, let me tell you. She refuses to believe that
having 563 PSTs open is a bad thing because they work on the old
machine.

So, has anyone ever seen anything of this caliber? Any suggestions? The
obvious one of "Close them" isn't an option at this time, and merging
them down isn't either. This user claims not to have time, and keeps
referring back to the old machine where her setup has worked for 3
years.




--
Robbzilla

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/907651 - it was added to SP3 so you should
have it installed if everything is truly identical except for the hardware.



--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Need Help with Common Tasks? http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/
Outlook 2007: http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/ol2007/

Outlook Tips by email:


Exchange Messaging Outlook newsletter:


Outlook Tips: http://www.outlook-tips.net/
Outlook & Exchange Solutions Center: http://www.slipstick.com

You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/comm...s/default.mspx or point your
newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.


"Diane Poremsky [MVP]" wrote in message
...
What version of outlook is on the new machine? If 2003, do you have all
the latest patches and updates installed? I believe there was a hotfix for
profiles with more than 50 pst's in them (but I can't find the KB at the
moment).

You really need to get her to reduce the number of psts - its not a very
productive way to work. If you have an exchange server she should not be
using any psts.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Need Help with Common Tasks? http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/
Outlook 2007: http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/ol2007/

Outlook Tips by email:


Exchange Messaging Outlook newsletter:


Outlook Tips: http://www.outlook-tips.net/
Outlook & Exchange Solutions Center: http://www.slipstick.com

You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/comm...s/default.mspx or point your
newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.


"Robbzilla" wrote in message
...

I have a user who's been migrated to a new machine. Her old one was a
Dell GX270 with about 256MB RAM and XP SP2 and Outlook 2003. The new HP
has the same software, but has 2GB RAM and is a new dual-core job.

The user has 563 PSTs. I wish I were exagerrating. She literally has
some of these with 1 email in them. She has all of them "opened" in
outlook (By that I mean she has them loaded, but not all are expanded).
And... surprise, surprise, she's getting a lot of corruption in the
PSTs, giving her problems opening emails and personal folders
constantly.

Here's the kicker: The original machine runs them just fine. It's old
and slow, but it chugs along and doesn't seem plagued with this issue.
She has all of the files open in the same manner, and works.

Intensely frustrating, let me tell you. She refuses to believe that
having 563 PSTs open is a bad thing because they work on the old
machine.

So, has anyone ever seen anything of this caliber? Any suggestions? The
obvious one of "Close them" isn't an option at this time, and merging
them down isn't either. This user claims not to have time, and keeps
referring back to the old machine where her setup has worked for 3
years.




--
Robbzilla

Yes. It's a corporate image, completely controlled and not allowing users to make many changes. No addins running either. The files are all locally stored on her HD and no roaming profiles are used.

[quote='Diane Poremsky [MVP];297031']http://support.microsoft.com/kb/907651 - it was added to SP3 so you should
have it installed if everything is truly identical except for the hardware.

Actually, I apologize. I should have stated that I attempted this already, with very limited success...

The quick answer is for the user to combine PSTs. But she's very resistant to this and is also high enough up on the food chain to make it difficult to force her to comply. She's had 4 or 5 techs telling her for over a year not to work the way she's working, and now we're getting to a point where she's setting herself up for a really bad time. I'm not looking forward to dealing with this system when it goes down... As of now, she's kept her old PC and we're going to re-image the new PC and start all over again... I suspect we won't have much better luck than we already have. But then, maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised!